Islamist militants have declared an Islamic "caliphate" in an area straddling Iraq and Syria, trumpeting the declaration in several videos. "We will break other borders," a jihadist from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isis) warned in the video called End of Sykes-Picot.

Isis said its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was the caliph of Muslims everywhere. It also announced that it was changing it shortening its name to Islamic State. Hundreds of Isis supporters were shown celebrating the announcement of caliphate by firing guns into the air in the eastern Syrian city of Raqqa.

Most analysts have dismissed the announcement of a caliphate as hubris, and a gamble for support. Some jihadi leaders are reported to have condemned the move.

But a spokesman for the Iraqi military said the announcement showed that Isis was a threat to all countries. Qassim Atta suggested it could change the international community's reluctance to intervene. "I believe all the countries, once they read the declaration will change their attitudes because it orders everybody to be loyal to it," he said.

Isis-controlled Tikrit in northern Iraq has become the key focus for fighting as the Iraqi army continues to try to retake the city.Fighting was reported on the outskirts of they city, as Iraqi state TV broadcast footage of convoys of tanks being driven to Tikrit.

Residents in the frontline cities in the fight against Isis, such as Baquba and Samarra, say Shia militias are leading the fight against the militants and wielding inordinate power, according to Martin Chulov. In some cases, they say, security forces are deferring to them.

The Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has voiced support for Kurdish statehood, taking a position that appears to clash with the US preference to keep sectarian war-torn Iraq united. Pointing to the mayhem in Iraq, Netanyahu called for the establishment of an independent Kurdistan as part of a broader alliance with moderate forces across the region, adding that Israel would have to maintain a long-term military presence in the West Bank even after any future peace agreement with the Palestinians. http://www.theguardian.com/world/middle-east-live/2014/jun/30/isis-declares-caliphate-in-iraq-and-syria-live-updates

Duh!

Religion of Piss indeed.